Wildcats fall in close game against Otters
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 months, 2 weeks AGO
Wildcats player Bradley Swillie takes the ball across the court during the team’s matchup against the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters.
COURTESY PHOTO/NEVAEH CAPETILLO
SEASIDE, Calif. — The Central Washington University men’s basketball team (3-2) split its time in the West Region Crossover on after falling to the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters (2-0) on Saturday. This was following the Wildcat’s 80-68 victory over Menlo on Friday.
“We needed to do a better job of guarding the three-point line today. That was an emphasis going in, and we gave up 15 of them,” said Wildcats head coach Brandon Rinta. “I give our guys credit for fighting the whole game. We dug ourselves out of a hole and cut it to one possession. Just couldn’t get the stop we needed late.”
The Wildcats started off strong with a 7-0 run in the first half. The Otters would get on the board with a free throw, but CWU would respond with a layup from junior Jordan Clark.
Cal State would cut into the lead with a 4-2 run and then add on their score with a 6-0 run following a timeout. Wildcats player Eli Williams hit a three-point and Jalen Childs would make a layup to extend their lead, but the Otters would respond with a three pointer from Ariya Briscoe to make it a four point game.
The two teams would go back and forth through the remainder of the first half before going into halftime with the Otters taking the 40-38 lead.
In the second half the Otters would take a significant 15 point lead going up 83-71 with 4:39 left in the game. The Wildcats would rally for a 10-0 run to cut into the lead and have the score at 83-81 within the final two minutes.
The Otters would continue to apply pressure through free throws and dunks and the Wildcats would fall short ending the game 92-88 in favor of Cal State.
Bradley Swillie led the Wildcats in scoring with 29 total poins followed by Clark with 20. Clark also led the team with five assists, three steals, and a .500 shooting percentage and going 7-14 from the field.
Garrett Marrs led the team in rebounds with seven total boards followed by Clark and Williams with six rebounds each.
The Otters’ Michael Mora led the team with 29 points with both Mora and Joey Bilello scoring 8 rebounds. Jaeden Tengan led the team with 8 assists and Bilello and Ariya Brisco each had 11 blocks.
The three-point percentage was a big presence during the matchup with the Otters hitting 53.6% of its shots and CWU making 33.3%.
The Wildcats will return to Ellensburg to kick of the home opener 7 p.m. Friday against Chico State at the Nicholson Arena. The Otters will be hitting the road for their next five games beginning with a game against Jessup University at the Bill Holtz Classic on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
BOX SCORE:
CWU: 38-50: 88
CAST: 40-52: 92
ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ
BBCC eyes budget and spring enrollment
MOSES LAKE — During Big Bend Community College’s April 30 board meeting the college President, Sarah Thompson Tweedy, shared the counts for spring enrollment and Full Time Enrollment numbers for Spring of 2026 along with updates on where the budget sits. “We still have some work to do in terms of systematically going through our expenses and seeing how much of the requests that we have before us, how many of those we can put off,” said Thompson Tweedy. “There’s the opportunity to close that gap by reducing our expenses, but the challenge is, we’ve also had some expenses go up.” As of April 15, 2026 the spring quarter head count was up nearly 18% from 2025, but total FTE’s and state-funded FTEs were down 6.9% and 11.6% respectively, according to the board agenda.
Huskies best Tigers in OT
Othello moves on to second round of districts
OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies (11-5) extended their postseason push after earning a close 2-1 victory in overtime against the Ephrata Tigers (7-10) in the first round of the 2A district tournament. The game winning goal came in second overtime when Othello sophomore Samuel Marroquin knocked the ball into the back of the net. “It was a tough game, Ephrata is definitely a tough opponent, but I feel like we had prepared well for the week,” said Marroquin. “We definitely had a good game plan and we just gave everything. We knew if this was our last game we were going to go out with a bang.” The game was a tight battle from the very beginning as the Tigers and Huskies battled under the hot sun. Othello scored in the first half and maintained their lead in throughout, going into halftime 1-0.
BASIN SPORTS SCHEDULE: May 4-11, 2026
COLUMBIA BASIN — The postseason has begun for high school athletes in our area with teams gearing up to compete against the best of the best. Check out where our local teams are heading this week.